This invention relates generally to the field of multi-purpose telescoping devices and more specifically to a multi-purpose device with concealed locking means, its preferred mode being that of a swagger stick which is extendable to function as a walking aid.
There are sundry utilitarian ornamental devices which may be carried by individuals for various purposes. In example, it is fashionable and useful to carry ornate walking sticks or canes to accent or enhance appearance, or to aid ambulation. Swagger sticks and/or devices such as field marshal batons or scepters may be carried as indications of rank and/or authority; canes may be carried by sightless people to assist movement from place to place.
These devices, according to purpose, may differ significantly in size, weight, and/or appearance. If an individual requires more than one such device, the result can be inconvenient and burdensome.
There are known devices which are adjustable in length but which have said length adjustment means or other undignified, purely utilitarian features conspicuously disposed upon them thereby severely detracting from their aesthetic appeal.
The instant multi-purpose device, by comprising concealed locking means, provides both for fast and easy conversion of the device from one purpose to another while preserving enhanced aesthetics necessary for formal wear, use with military uniforms, or employment as swagger sticks, batons, scepters, and the like. The instant invention is therefore a needed advancement in the art.
Generally, these length adjustable devices comprise an inner telescoping member slidable within an outer member having a series of longitudinally aligned holes. The inner member has an associated button device which extends through a hole in said inner member and engages a substantially aligned hole in the outer member. A bias element sustains the button in communication with said substantially aligned holes in the members. To adjust the length of the device, the button is depressed overcoming the bias element and disengaging the button from the aligned holes allowing the members to move so that the hole in the inner member may be aligned with an alternate hole in the outer member whereupon the bias element will return the button to engagement with said substantially aligned holes.
However, there are known problems with such arrangements. In example, when the button is depressed inwardly by a user's finger to overcome the bias element and to disengage said button from the telescoping sections and one section is moved relative another, there is a tendency for the telescoping sections to pinch the finger of the user during initial movement between sections being moved.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,616,668 by Battison, the pinching problem is solved by encasing that portion of the outer member comprising holes with a flexible sheath which deforms allowing the button to be depressed sufficient distance for length adjustment while comprising a barrier between the user's finger and potentially pinching elements.
Also, it is known that sections tend to rattle because of play between said sections when external forces are applied, especially when the device is pushed against the ground by a user during ambulation.
Battison, in his above patent, solves the rattle problem by contriving his flexible sheath to exert back pressure against the bias element to press the inner section against the outer section with sufficient force to stabilize said sections against rattle causing movement caused by outside forces. This arrangement requires that the force exerted by the sheath not be great enough to overcome the bias element, but at the same time be greater than that force applied by a heavy man's striking the device against the ground and resting a large portion of his weight upon it; therefore, the opposing forces of Battison's bias element and his flexible sheath must be quite large causing length adjustment by applying force to overcome the bias element to be commensurately difficult.
This arrangement is also disadvantageous because, for the sheath to exert back pressure against the bias element, Battison requires that his button has to extend beyond the outer surface of the outer member sufficiently to distend said sheath to create said opposing back pressure. Because his sheath must occlude at least part of the aperture in the outer section. This can be disadvantageous because it limits the types and manner of decoration or embellishment of the sheath as will be shown presently. The range of decorative possibilities is also restricted by Battison's claimed limitation that his sheath cover only that portion of a telescoping member comprising holes.
In addition, the extreme amount of play between Battison's telescoping tubes increases the likelihood of a finger's being pinched therebetween. In contrast, the instant art by teaching minimum clearance between telescoping members and by teaching apertures having sufficient clearance between a finger and said telescoping members solves the pinching problem without Battison's restrictive bias element-flexible sheath back pressure arrangement.
The instant art, as demonstrated below, solves the pinching and rattle problems in manners different from Battison and accrue benefits not found in Battison.